British American Tobacco (BAT) says it may get £1.2bn of tax back after a High Court judge ruled it had overpaid.

Indian stock markets reopen for trading, after having closed on Thursday following the attacks in Mumbai, India's business capital.

The UK government is to own 58% of Royal Bank of Scotland after shareholders snubbed its £15bn share offer.

Reuters - Asian stocks rose for a sixth consecutive day on Friday, led by commodity-related shares in Hong Kong and Australia as bargain-hunting investors hoped policy changes would eventually drive up demand for raw materials.

The Royal Bank of Scotland said the government would take a 57.9 percent stake in the group after investors took up just 0.24 percent of the shares offered in its state-backed capital raising.

Drug companies are blocking or delaying the entry of cheaper generic medicines into the EU, the European Commission says.

Industrial output and consumer spending fall heavily in Japan as fears grow it is heading for a prolonged recession.

Unemployment in the eurozone rises to 7.7%, the highest level for two years, up 0.4% from one year ago.

A Western liberal finds Africans know best how to invest

Reuters - Global stocks headed toward a sixth consecutive session of gains on Friday, although European shares were weak, as investors took some comfort from government moves to stimulate a deteriorating world economy.

The British government took control of Royal Bank of Scotland after investors shunned the bank?s share sale.

Indian shares rise as the market reopens, a day after Thursday's attacks in Mumbai, India's business capital.

Germany's Commerzbank agrees to accelerate its purchase of Dresdner Bank from insurer Allianz in a deal worth 9.8bn euros.

Retailers are predicting little Christmas cheer, according to the latest survey from the employers' organisation, the CBI.

Rwanda's booming manufacturing and farming sectors could push growth in the country to 10% this year, its central bank says.

Reuters - Stock index futures slipped in thin holiday trade on Friday after a four-day streak of gains as investors nervously eyed the post-Thanksgiving sales for clues on how retailers will fare this holiday season in a deteriorating economy.

Reuters - Major drug companies are delaying or blocking the entry of cheaper generic medicines, pushing up bills for taxpayers and reducing the incentive for innovation, the European Commission said on Friday.

Reuters - Britain bought a 58 percent stake in Royal Bank of Scotland on Friday as the state picked up 15 billion pounds ($23 billion) of shares in the lender after investors shunned a rescue plan.

AP - Britain's retailers are as gloomy about the crucial Christmas trading period as at any time in the last 25 years, the country's biggest business lobby group said Friday.

Retailers are expected to offer jaw-dropping deals during one of the toughest holiday seasons in decades.

Wall Street opened mixed as investors returned after Thanksgiving in what is expected to be a quiet day with many traders staying away until Monday.

Carl Icahn, the billionaire investor, bought nearly seven million additional shares of Yahoo in a move likely to fuel speculation over Yahoo?s search for a new chief executive.

The British government took control of Royal Bank of Scotland after investors shunned the bank?s share sale.

A steep fall in eurozone inflation and a rise in the jobless rate raises hopes that the ECB will cut rates sharply next week.

Drug companies are blocking or delaying the entry of cheaper generic medicines into the EU, the European Commission says.

Oil prices fall below $54 as a fall in crude demand. Iranian and Qatari oil ministers say a cut in production by Opec tomorrow is unlikely.

How Zimbabwean exiles send vital supplies back home

Reuters - Stocks opened moderately lower in thin holiday trade on Friday after a streak of gains as investors nervously eyed post-Thanksgiving sales to gauge how retailers will fare this holiday season in a weak economy.

Reuters - The British government on Friday acquired a majority stake in one of the country's biggest banks and Germany's Commerzbank accelerated its takeover of a onetime rival as the shake-up of European banks gathered pace with help from taxpayers and shareholders.

The nation?s retailers are facing weak sales, reluctant customers, and the prospect of the worst holiday shopping season in decades.

Wall Street opened mixed as investors returned after Thanksgiving in what is expected to be a quiet day with many traders staying away until Monday.

The British government took control of Royal Bank of Scotland after investors shunned the bank?s share sale.

Retailers open early and offer steep discounts to encourage consumers as the festive shopping season starts.

China has successfully flight tested it first home-grown commercial airliner with a 90-seat capacity.

Russia's central bank increases its key interest rate to 13% from 12% and the rouble weakens by about 1% against the dollar and the euro.

The market for Russian art has gone flat

The number of people buying films via online download in the UK has jumped hugely in the past year, according to data from Screen Digest.

Reuters - Stocks slipped in thin holiday trade on Friday after a streak of gains as investors nervously eyed post-Thanksgiving sales to gauge how retailers will fare this holiday season, while worries about global demand hurt technology and energy shares.

Reuters - Short selling of financial and automaker stocks has fallen sharply since July, as traders balk at the dimming prospects to profit from these battered shares and the U.S. government increases control over the economy.

Reuters - Britain's government bought a majority stake in one of the country's biggest banks and Germany's Commerzbank accelerated its takeover of a rival as the shake-up of European banks gathered pace with help from taxpayers and shareholders.

The nation?s retailers are facing weak sales, reluctant customers, and the prospect of the worst holiday shopping season in decades.

Wall Street rose for a 5th straight session in relatively quiet trading, with many market professionals staying away until Monday.

The European Commission calls for more aid for developing countries as a major aid summit opens in Doha.

General Motors asks the US aviation authorities not to track its private jets after being criticised for extravagance as it asked for government help.

Reuters - Stocks rose on Friday in thin volume after Thanksgiving as financials gained on signs that liquidity measures were beginning to work, but retailers' shares fell at the start of the holiday shopping season in a weak economy.

The nation?s retailers are facing weak sales, reluctant customers, and the prospect of the worst holiday shopping season in decades.

A Wal-Mart employee in suburban New York died after being trampled by a crush of shoppers on Friday.

As the holiday shopping season begins, consumers in America say they are less interested in consuming than at any other time in the past four decades.

Compared to last year, the British pound has dropped substantially, with retailers hoping to lure American tourists while also enticing Britons to shop at home.

The European Union accused drug companies of adding billions of dollars to health care costs by delaying or blocking the sale of less-expensive generic medicines.

The chief executive of Crate and Barrel discusses her approach to dealing with one of the most challenging retail environments in years.

Harry Hurt III takes a turn at sportscasting for ESPN during a football game between Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut.

Reuters - U.S. stocks rose on Friday on light volume in an abbreviated session, capping the best week for the S&P 500 since at least 1980, as investors hoped government and central bank moves unveiled this week would boost the economy.

Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which bought the banking operations of Washington Mutual Inc in September, said on Friday it would retain most of the giant thrift's branch banking staff, but planned substantial job cuts at its former headquarters and elsewhere.

Reuters - Citigroup shares soared on Friday, and more than doubled this week, as investors expressed relief that the second-largest U.S. bank by assets won a government bailout, and separately might not have to suffer big losses from helping to fund a giant leveraged bailout.

Reuters - The second-largest Boeing Co union will count votes on the latest contract offer from the plane maker on Monday.

A crush of shoppers tore down the front doors and thronged into a store in suburban New York, killing a temporary employee.

Some in Britain fear that the government?s plan to borrow and spend to counter the current recession may lead to a run on the pound.

Harry Hurt III takes a turn at sportscasting for ESPN during a football game between Syracuse University and the University of Connecticut.

The credit crisis is rippling through the economy in ways that affect the way people do business and live their lives. For instance, people who sell and drive trucks.

Spain and Italy announce plans worth billions of euros to kick-start their economies.

Reuters - JPMorgan Chase & Co , which bought the banking operations of Washington Mutual Inc in September, said on Friday it would retain most of the giant thrift's branch banking staff, but planned substantial job cuts at its former headquarters and elsewhere.

Reuters - Goldman Sachs Group Inc on Friday won a charter from New York State's banking department, a key step in the Wall Street bank's effort to change its investment banking model and gather deposits.

Against the real likelihood of financial doom for so many people, what precisely do we owe our alma maters at a time like this?

The day before Thanksgiving was a moment of reckoning for white-collar workers who were offered buyout deals.

Reuters - General Motors Corp is pushing some bondholders to swap their debt for equity, as Chief Executive Rick Wagoner tries to keep the automaker out of a Chapter 11 bankruptcy that would likely cost him his job, The Wall Street Journal said late Friday, citing people familiar with the plan.

Against the real likelihood of financial doom for so many people, what precisely do we owe our alma maters at a time like this?

The shift to real-income living demands not only new spending habits, but also a wholly different way of thinking about money.

In letters and meetings, elite schools in New York say applications and donations remain strong.

The European Central Bank is expected to make its largest-ever interest rate cut next week.

An interview of the President carried out by his sister offered reflections on his life in office and beyond.

The television market offers a glimpse of the broader tensions between cautious consumers and desperate retailers.

Mr. McKelvey jumped into Internet commerce as the executive who built Monster.com into the leading job recruitment Web site.

The terrorist siege is likely to threaten India?s already murky economic future and thwart plans to transform the city into a regional financial center, economists said.

The work performed by the cleaning company Kärcher on the Space Needle in Seattle in only one of the many examples of corporate philanthropy.

The industrial chemical melamine is safe in baby formula in small amounts, the Food and Drug Administration said.

Eli Lilly withdrew its application for approval of the antidepressant Cymbalta as a treatment for chronic pain, after regulators questioned whether the drug was shown to work for that purpose.

Goldman Sachs Group won approval for a New York State banking license to transform into a bank holding company and take deposits. Goldman Sachs Bank USA will have its headquarters in New York City, the New York State Banking Department said Friday in a statement. Goldman was one of nine major United States banks that received a total of $125 billion under the government?s $700 billion rescue plan for the financial industry. Goldman Sachs?s Utah-based industrial loan company will merge into its New York-state chartered trust company, Goldman Sachs Trust Company, which will in turn become a full-service New York bank with trust powers.

Cathay Pacific said it would delay delivery of its Boeing aircraft, with list prices of about $9.5 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group won approval for a New York State banking license to transform into a bank holding company and take deposits.

Reuters - Former U.S. Treasury secretary Robert Rubin said the near-collapse of Citigroup Inc , where he is a senior counselor, was due to the buckling financial system and not his own mistakes, according to an interview published on The Wall Street Journal's website on Friday.